Archive for the ‘red peppers’ Category

We’re going back to the Animal Kingdom for this recipe. This one is courtesy of the Tusker House Restaurant in the Animal Kingdom Park. The Tusker House is in the Africa Portion of the Park adjacent to Kilimanjaro Safari. I haven’t been to Tusker House in a while. When Catherine and I went to Tusker House on our Honeymoon(Quite a while ago), Tusker house was a quick service restaurant. It was really good, the food focused on fresh, healthy alternatives to regular park fare. Since then, it has changed formats to a buffet. In the morning the restaurant hosts Donald’s Safari Breakfast. In the afternoon and evening there is a buffet that serves African and American Cuisine. Looks like it has some interesting choices, take a look.

The Goods

The kids enjoyed cooking this one at least. We were listening to Muppet music the whole time and the kids had fun trying to figure out who was singing. Their favorite is Miss Piggy. I had to deal with the food. As always I started by getting all my ingredients ready to go. Nothing ruins a dish like not being at a critical point in your recipe and realizing your next addition is sitting un-prepped in the fridge. I started with the lamb, I like to use the Leg of lamb. It has a good level of fat which is good for stewing. You can save some money by buying a whole leg on lamb, bone in. It’s the best deal per pound. I remove the bone and cut the lamb into 8 oz portions then use what I need and freeze the rest. The lamb in this recipe is cubed, don’t forget to trim excess fat away and remove all connecting tissue. We won’t be cooking long enough to break down connective tissues.

Curry with pan to fit it

After we are all prepped up, in a large saute pan that has a cover, saute the lamb in some oil until it is browned, then remove. In the same pan I added the onions to get about a 2 minute head start on the chilies, garlic and ginger. I cooked this mixture for a couple more minutes then added the Curry Powder (I made my own, search the web, If you have a “spice” grinder, It’s easy.) Toss in the flour, make sure you cook the mixture a little before you move on. If you don’t, you could have raw flour taste to your dish. Once slightly thickened, add the tomatoes, cream of coconut chicken stock and the browned lamb. Don’t be afraid to at some more stock if the dish seems too thick. If it seems to thick now, just imagine what will happen when you cook this for about 45 minutes. Make sure you stir occasionally or things may burn.

Once its finished cooking, season properly. The recipe calls for Cilantro as a garnish, but my wife can’t eat it so I had to go without. I served the Curry over some Basamati rice.

Curry and Rice

While the kids had fun cooking, the same can’t be said about the eating. We were treated a chorus of “too spicy, too spicy”. Personally Catherine and I thought it could use more spice I thought I was keeping it mild. I guess it depends how the kids were feeling that day. The adults in the house really liked the meal, it was very filling and as long as we controlled ourselves, it was healthy. You could make this dish with other meats and it would be equally tasty, I know some people who would shy away from lamb. If I cook it again, I may add more veggies to boost the vitamins in this and lower the calories some more, maybe some broccoli, carrots, kale. I’ll have to check what’s in season at the time.